Thomas and Martha

This is how it would always be, if Martha had her way.

Another New Hat

A package came for Thomas the other day with this hat inside! This hat, which we happen to know has been in production for quite some time, fits perfectly and it thought to be cool by all the right sort of people. Well done, Granny!

Sledding

This past week we have been getting a few inches of snow every day and Emily and Frederick went sledding last weekend and a few school days this week. After one especially pleasurable afternoon, Frederick drew this picture. (This scan cuts off a bit of the right side of the picture, but the word "Stop" is included at the bottom of the hill.)

Frederick Frog

Found this lying on our computer desk. I'll assume somebody wants it scanned and posted. Jami swears she's never seen it before.

Arctic Blast!

The weather forecast for this weekend was "a warming trend" but we haven't seen a sign of that yet--yesterday it was 18F (with a "feels like" temperature of 8F) and today it is 22F (with a "feels like temperature of 12F). Perhaps warming from 18 F to 24F was what they meant? I was hoping for something more like 50F or maybe even 66F. And, since I forgot to "winterize" our backyard, we are seeing signs of the damage that has been done.As usual, I put off bringing in the fish from the pond. There are (were?) 12 in there. This heater keeps a tiny window unfrozen to let out the noxious fumes. I hope some survive the winter, but I am not confident that any will.
I put some cheapie ornaments on the tree outside our front window and now it is too cold to take them down.
Thomas's illuminated yard penguin has had a serious accident. We all feel bad about it as we sit by the cozy fire and look at it through the livingroom window, but no one can be bothered to go outside and fix it.

Pictures From About a Week Ago

Frederick practices spelling some of his favorite words.Frederick being silly.

Thomas and Granny prepare dinner. Thomas is wearing a new hat knitted especially for him by Granny. (Sniff! She left for England last Wednesday and it isn't the same here without her.)

Enjoying a delicious meal.

Christmas Cards That Didn't Make the Cut

I had to take about three dozen photos before I got one that was usable for a Christmas card.  Here Thomas gets a kick out of squeezing Frederick.
Frederick readies for the flash by squinting.
I told them to "act like you like each other."  This is what they came up with:
Getting fed up with the fruitlessness of getting a "natural" looking posed shot, we headed outside for "candid fun."  Thomas gives Frederick another rib busting squeeze. 
Frederick cracks Thomas us by eating snow.  It was this stunt that actually got them to both smile at the same time and gave us the picture I used in the card.  It's out of focus, but that is as good as it gets in this household.

Morning has Broken...

Christmas morning wasn't as insane as it has been in the past. Frederick slept in until almost 8 and Thomas didn't emerge from his room until almost 9. (Thomas has been staying up reading, writing, drawing and in general pissing about until sometime between 2 and 4 am every night now for weeks, so I think we finally have crazy Christmas mornings behind us.) Frederick excited about getting a triple pack of Sesame Street cds:
Thomas clearly over the moon about a game I know nothing about:
Simon tunes out, completely engrossed with a comic book:Frederick gets an electronic drum set. What WERE we thinking?And here is Thomas with what he has been asking for for several years: